Behind the Idea
One loony campaign
Ian Bates, creative director at direct agency Indicia, on the cartoon capers aiming to highlight the very real dangers of smoking.
Saatchi & Saatchi X’s controversial viral campaign for QUIT – an independent charity that helps smokers kick the habit – aims to drive smokers to call the charity’s dedicated QUITline.
The campaign, spearheaded by three 15-second films, darkly depicts comic animations of ‘loony lungs’ willingly throwing themselves into increasingly dangerous situations.
‘Just when you thought you’d seen every type of stop-smoking campaign another one comes along that attacks the issue from a completely different angle,’ says Bates. ‘I seem to remember that on average smokers make five attempts to give up before achieving life without the nicotine, so this idea lends itself to repeated engagement and further development of the campaign.’
The virals are supported by a range of activities including experiential and ambient marketing, appearing in cities across the UK in and around key sites such as pubs, cafes and London Underground stations.
‘Nobody likes to be lectured,’ says Emma Perkins, executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi X. ‘Smokers know the risks. Whenever they see messages highlighting the serious dangers, they have no impact. Why? There’s no immediacy. Graphic images of rotten lungs on packs are seen as worst-case scenario. Smokers simply switch off.’
Enter the Loony Lungs. Two madcap lung characters whose actions draw a direct parallel to thrill seeking adrenalin junkies who don’t care about the consequences of their actions.
Thanks to animator Karen Cheung at Jelly London, the Loony Lungs began their adventures with maniacal glee, but not all went to plan.
‘After a very brave client signed off all three scripts, they finally baulked at the edit of the final animation, “sky dive”,’ confesses Perkins. ‘Larry Lung impaled on a fence was one leap of faith too far. Happily, the alternative ending became our favourite yet – an animation classic, the steam roller, complete with exploding lung.’
In order to encourage sharing, the Loony Lungs had to be watchable by smokers and non-smokers alike, while still getting across the very serious message.
‘It’s taken a different approach to the quit-smoking campaign that might just turn a few heads,’ says Bates. ‘It just goes to show that it’s not necessarily the size of the budget that makes great advertising, its still about ideas.
‘For an audience that chooses to shut out repeated health warnings, Loony Lungs might just open the door.’
